Member-only story
My Russian classmates and their opinions about Vladimir Putin
A short story to sum up what they really think of him.
“He’s not human. He sold his soul to the devil”
These were the words that came out of Mikhail's mouth about Putin. Who is Mikhail? He was my Russian classmate.
I met Mikhail, Ekaterina, Aleksei, Ludmilla, and Natasha fifteen years ago. All are from Russia and have migrated to Finland. We met in our language class; we were all learning Finnish. We had to study the Finnish language to at least pass the intermediate language exam to gain recognition of our qualifications (pediatric doctor, nurse, architect, civil engineer, real estate agent, and analyst) to obtain employment in the country.
Before I go on with this story, I am deeply saddened by the war in Ukraine. The war's injustices, killings, and destructions are very disturbing, and there is no denying Putin's atrocious, brutal, and barbaric acts of war on Ukraine and its people.
After hearing that Finland has finally closed its borders to Russia, I felt relieved. Although tourism purposes are no longer allowed entry to the country, family visits, studies, research, and work will still gain entry to Finland, which brings me back to why I am writing this story.
